One incident after another this year has tarnished the crown jewel of the 2010 Winter Games with issues often beyond Olympic control but experts and residents say the image of the Games won't be affected.

Whistler, B.C., the host of nordic and alpine events for 2010, was cut off from the rest of the province earlier in July when a rock slide closed the Sea-to-Sky Highway near Squamish.

The resort has also been hit by a slumping economy that could keep tourist dollars away from the picturesque mountain town.

The collapse of a gondola tower that left dozens of people stranded for hours Tuesday was the latest embarrassment.

It's the kind of thing that gets an immediate reaction, said Barrett Fisher, the president of

Tourism Whistler, but not a lasting impact.

"We monitor that through our customers, through our call centre, and even with the most current incident, we've received a number of questions with regards to understanding what had occurred, but there has been no impact on a negative sort to our reservations or bookings as a result."

Still, resort owners acknowledged they'll need to work to regain the trust of the public.

"I prefer this story wasn't out there but it is a reality. I can only tell you we are going to work to restore confidence where it has been damaged," Doug Forseth, vice-president of operations at Whistler Blackcomb, said at a news conference in Whistler on Wednesday.

Twelve people were injured among the 53 skiers and snowboarders trapped in unheated cabins after the tower on Blackcomb Mountain's Excalibur gondola buckled Tuesday afternoon.

Most of the injuries were minor, but one person broke their vertebrae.

That Whistler Blackcomb quickly spoke to the media and took steps to suss out any other potential concerns shows the resort is well equipped to handle crisis, said Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at B.C.'s Simon Fraser University.

They also have a good track record for safety and no one should have concerns about how they'll handle the Olympics, he said.

Still, with the Winter Games coming to town in just over a year, the mountain is under scrutiny like never before.

An international affair

The story of the collapse hit the international media quickly, with networks like ABC, CNN and the BBC all running stories, but Fisher said that isn't impacting how the town of Whistler responds to problems.

"There may be additional focus from a media perspective, but it certainly isn't changing our behaviour," said Fisher.

"It's critical from a customer perspective and a leadership perspective that we step up no matter what."

The same kind of media attention came in July when the rock slide closed the Sea-to-Sky highway for several days.

That story reached so far around the globe that B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell was asked about it by international media at a news conference at the Beijing Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee has long had concerns about the highway and Vancouver organizers, along with B.C. government funding a multimillion-dollar upgrade of the route, have gone to great lengths to assuage fears.

Officials quiet about incident

But Olympic officials had little to say about the gondola collapse.

The Vancouver organizing committee pointed out that it didn't happen on the mountain hosting Games events. Olympic events will take place on Whistler Mountain, not Blackcomb.

"Our top priority during the upcoming sport events and the 2010 Games is the safe and reliable movement of participants to, from and within the sport venues," said a statement from the organizing committee, known as VANOC.

"We are fully confident that our partner, Whistler Blackcomb, working closely with safety authorities, will ensure that any lift services we may use as part of our transportation plan at the resort will meet the highest safety standards."

These kind events don't deter tourists, said Bruce Lacroix, a Victoria-based travel consultant.

"Whether it's a tsunami, whether it's floods, hurricanes, natural disasters, manmade disasters -- in the end, people will continue to travel," he said.

"These are everyday occurrences and I'm not trying to belittle what happens in Whistler but stuff happens all over the world, mechanically or manmade and people end up doing what they're doing."

Time is also on the side of Whislter and the 2010 Games, said Meredith.

The Games are still over a year away.

"This would have been a much different issue had it occurred much closer (to the Games)," he said.

With files from The Canadian Press